Game to take on Atkinson

November 12, 2009

Over 90 per cent of Australians support the introduction of an R18+ rating for video games, but while South Australian attorney general Michael Atkinson remains responsible for our classification system, it is unlikely we will see change.

Rather than try to lobby Australia censorship ministers, a Melbourne-based games tester is setting up a political party with the aim to dump Mr Atkinson from parliament.

David Doe, a 30-year-old who grew up in Mr Atkinson's home town of Adelaide before moving to Melbourne to work for Flight Control developer Firemint, is currently trying to register Gamers4Croydon as a political party so a candidate can run against the attorney general in South Australian elections next year.

Screen Play chatted with David after he returned from a weekend trip to Adelaide garnering support for the new party.

Click below for the full interview.

Tell me about yourself

I'm 30 years old, married (this year), grew up in the southern suburbs of Adelaide and now live in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Why did you form Gamers4Croydon?

I decided that I wanted to actively contribute to the debate on classification in Australia. As popular public support and overwhelming supporting evidence were not doing enough to progress the case of an R18+ rating classification being implemented in Australia, I thought I would try another tack.

Why are you so passionate about game classification?

The current rating system just isn't providing parents and caregivers enough information about the kind of content some MA15+ rated videogames contain. We need to ensure that children are not being given access to strong adult content they may access unwittingly via the MA15+ rating, and we need to give adults the right to engage in adult-oriented entertainment, just as they currently can with film and TV.

Do you think the classification system just needs an R18+ rating, or a complete overhaul?

I think the addition of the R18+ rating would clear up most of the issues we are currently experiencing. At present, content that would be rated R18+ for film and TV is being inappropriately squeezed into the MA15+ rating. Parents should have a clearer indication on the type of content they are purchasing for their children. Ultimately, it is a parent's right and responsibility to determine what type of content is appropriate for their children. The Classification Board helps give parents the information they need to make an informed purchase, but it is hamstrung by the current exclusion of an R18+ rating. If we include the R18+ rating, parents will have more information available to them to ensure that they can make the right decision about content they deem inappropriate for their children to be exposed to. And, like currently, they will continue to be able to use their console's parental controls to restrict their children from accessing it.

Dr Jeff Brand from Bond University believes Australia should get rid of all of its classification bodies and adopt the PEGI system. What do you think of self-regulatory schemes like PEGI?

The PEGI system is obviously something that works very well for Europe. It seems to be a well thought-out and convenient way of giving informed parents the type of information they are looking for when purchasing a videogame for their children. I am very thankful to Dr Brand for his and his fellow researchers' work in the case study “Australia's Computer Games Audience and Restrictive Ratings System”.

As someone who works in the video game industry, do you think the lack of an R18+ rating in Australia hurts the international reputation of the local games development industry?

No, and my role as a tester has no influence on that statement. It is my understanding that Australian developers are held in very high regard both locally and globally, irrespective of what current federal legislation allows to be classified for sale within the country. As we are the only developed country without the equivalent of an adults-only rating, I would suggest that the country's reputation as a progressive and mature nation is the only thing being damaged in this instance.

Croydon is traditionally a very safe seat for the Labor Party, what makes you think you can make a difference?

Even the tiniest snowflake can start an avalanche. This is one more snowflake being added to the already numerous public interest groups taking action on the issue of classification within Australia.

Will you approach other candidates to direct preferences away from Michael Atkinson?

Any decision on preferences will be done after the selection of our candidates, which will be after the party has been officially registered.

Did you contemplate running yourself, or will you try to find a local candidate?

As a registered voter of Victoria, I cannot run in the South Australian state election. We'll be finding a local candidate by holding a party caucus once Gamers4Croydon has been officially registered by the SA Electoral Commission.

How do you plan to raise awareness of your party?

Well, interviews like this certainly help! In seriousness, in typical web 2.0 fashion, we'll be active on Facebook and Twitter and we have an RSS feed available for people to subscribe to our news page, but we'll also be campaigning within digital communities like Steam and World of Warcraft. As for the traditional means, we have already been knocking on doors and letter-dropping within Croydon itself (to some success), and we will continue to do this in the lead up to the election.

How did the road trip to Adelaide go on the weekend?

I'd like to call it a raging success. We managed to get huge numbers of people signing up towards the initial target of 150 electors we require in order to get official registration with the Electoral Commission. Coverage on Kotaku and AustralianGamer certainly helped get people to the first sign up event in Rundle Mall, and things have snowballed from there. We even had The Advertiser come down and take a few photos for an article that was printed on Sunday. It was good to get back to Adelaide for the weekend, I always enjoy going home.

How can gamers around the country who don't live in Croydon support your campaign?

Everyone in South Australia will be able to vote for our candidate for the Legislative Council, and if we have enough support, for our candidates in their local electorates. As for gamers outside of SA, they can still become national party members to help drive numbers and recruitment. They can join Gamers4Croydon group on Facebook to get regular updates on the party goings-on. They can follow us on Twitter and re-tweet our tweets. They can share our RSS updates with their friends. They can donate to the party via PayPal and any donations not used in the campaign will be donated to the Child's Play charity after the election. And they can spread the word as much as possible by using the G4C tag before or after their name in their game and console of preference. We've had some wonderful people volunteering their time and expertise already, and additional offers are always welcome!

Why do you think that in the past gamers have been reticent to try to wield political power?

I don't think that they have been reticent to wield political power at all. There have been numerous petitions, contacts with Attorneys-General, contacts with Federal Ministers, MPs and Senators. As popular public support and overwhelming supporting evidence were not progressing the case, here's hoping that another avenue will.

The Video Game Voters Network in the US has 150,000 members. Do you think the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association should form a similar organisation in Australia?

I cannot speak for the IGEA, nor would I presume to suggest to them what to do. I would support any of their future efforts to change the classification system for the better by lobbying for the inclusion of an R18+ rating for videogames in Australia, if they so chose to do so.

Do you think Australia's game distributors have been proactive enough in campaigning for changes to the classification system?

I couldn't say. There are a significant amount of people campaigning for changes to the classification system, and not everyone makes their efforts known publicly.

What is your dream scenario a year from now?

A Gamers4Croydon member sitting in the House of Assembly as the member for the SA electoral seat of Croydon for a start, with another member sitting in the SA Legislative Council. Having all parents in Australia knowing how to use the parental controls found in their home consoles. Having an R18+ rating for videogames implemented, thereby giving parents the ability to correctly determine the type of content they are purchasing for their children, and giving adults the right to play adult-oriented material.

And I wouldn't mind world peace either...

Thanks David, good luck.

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Recent comments

Good on you for starting this initiative, David. Best of luck with the campaign!

Arran

November 12, 2009

08:26 AM

Hellsyeah! Looking forward to the next time Atkinson (or any of his conservative buddies) try to paint gamers as "lazy" after this!

& even if this doesn't get as far as we'd like, at least we're showing the lengths rational minded people will go to effect change in this country in the face of a seeming over-abundance of apathy.

Darryn

November 12, 2009

08:48 AM

I think putting the term 'gamer' against any political affiliation would deter more voters than it could possibly attract...

I dare say you run the risk of making the cause a joke, not by my thinking, but by the general perception of our choice of entertainment across the wider population.

Its a good cause, but I would prefer this issue be one cornerstone in running a candidate for the seat, not the reason detre.

As cynical as it is to suggest, replace the word 'gamer' with 'child' and add a protection angle to it...

PS. obviously I dont think much of the general community when it comes to voting.

JPR

November 12, 2009

08:56 AM

Wish I still lived in Adelaide so I could support this with a vote.

Great thinking by Mr. Doe. I really hope this does well.

P.S. Why does Atkinson remind me so much of Baraka from Mortal Kombat in that pic? It must be the grin...

TMB

November 12, 2009

09:17 AM

This is exactly the kind of action that is needed.
But "joiing the facebook group" and "following on twitter" while admirable, won't help convince people that aren't well versed in that kind of thing (read: everyone in politics at the moment) come round to our point of view.
If you want something changed in this system, you have to jump through the hoops in the same way that everyone else does.
This movement could have the greatest online presence possible, but that doesn't mean squat in politics.
We have to take this to the "real world" and get non game playing people to realise that an R18+ rating is best for everyone.
All that being said, good on this guy for trying to directly confront the issue.

R rating aside, it actually sounds like a superb system for both games and movies. The content logos are pretty intuitive

Tim S

November 12, 2009

10:10 AM

@Darryn - More or less agreed, and certainly with you regarding the greater community.

The movement itself though may cause a follow-on effect. Gamers4Croydon may not see massive success in their first year of campaigning, but if they show other parties and communities that there is significant support for change on this issue, it may be enacted in order to buy those votes. Who really cares as long as we see change. This is perhaps one of the best ways to raise awareness on the issue seeing as it could possibly be aired and discussed in public forums that perhaps it may not ever have reached otherwise.

All the best of luck.

TSB

November 12, 2009

11:23 AM

Kudos and the best of luck to them - great to see someone going beyond setting up the normal Facebook group etc. and test their support democratically. South Australia has a good record of supporting minority interest parties. If G4C can field candidates in marginal seats, extract a promise from the Liberals and direct their preferences accordingly, they have a fair shot at making a difference. Concentrating too much on Atkinson and Croydon might be a mistake - Atkinson could have been rolled by the Labor caucus any time but they haven't wanted to, so don't feel bad about helping the Liberals win some marginal seats.

grassfire

November 12, 2009

12:25 PM

I agree with the comments made by TSB @ 11:23AM.

Atkinson was not elected into the SA AG's office, he is placed there by the SA govt.

The best way to enact change could well be to work with the other parties to change the SA government.

Joka

November 12, 2009

12:43 PM

As a South Australian, who is not in the district of Atkinson, I personally think that this campaign will struggle. Firstly, because of Labor and their position in this state. Secondly, even if Atkinson was removed as AG, and the Liberal party was in, who knows if their AG will be the same as Aktinson or not. I have emailed the shadow AG here several months back, but never received a reply in regards to my questions. Only a response about considering this issue in due time.

All the best with the campaign, perhaps it can prove me wrong.

Joka

November 12, 2009

02:17 PM

Hmm my message must have not gone through. But TSB and grassfire are spot on. Either Labor promote someone else as AG or the Liberal party win next year and the AG raises the issue. If Labor wins, I doubt Atkinson will move on. He's much more 'involved' in other issues here in SA that are much more important than the R18 issue.

I once emailed the Liberal party shadow AG to find out their views on the issue but only received an email back stating something along the lines of 'we will look into it in the future'. I wonder if they have the same view as the current AG...

Stoney

November 12, 2009

07:41 PM

Michael Atkinson - SA's AG, frankly needs to have a long hard look at himself. He has in the past written to the Federal Govt about movies that he has has not wanted available to the general public (7 Songs - remember that Michael!). It is not the role of the AG of a pathetic state govt to become some form of christian sensor. Leave it to an appropriate authority Michael and get on with your job (Whatever you do when not shooting your mouth off and causing the SA Taspayer thousands) David Doe needs to be commended for his actions and good luck in the seat of Croydon.

SAL

November 13, 2009

12:39 AM

Good idea. Good luck David! Something like this is needed, us being restricted to censored games cos there's no adult option is embarrassing!

...but heaven forbid parents actually take responsibility for what their kids do!

Craig

November 13, 2009

07:45 AM

Even if this simply forces Atkinson to publicly defend his position in his own electorate, this is a good move forward.

When governments will not adopt evidence-based policy they should be challenged in the place that hurts them the most - their own electorates.

If Senator Conroy wasn't a Senator I'd expect to see the same thing happening Federally regarding the Rudd government's proposed mandatory internet filter.

Unfortunately as Conroy is a Senator he is protected against this by his lack of an actual electorate and position on the Labor senate ticket, therefore he is much harder to hold personally to account.

Instead we'll have to see how the Pirate party does on a Federal level.

Cam

November 26, 2009

03:27 PM

I love that people have been motivated to try jumping through the hoops and despite not being a South Australian, I'm investigating other means of lending more tangible support.

A thought occurs to me that even playing 'by the rules', it seems that a majority of popular political opinion is heavily influence by tv ads and newspapers. And you don't need to be a political party to run community awareness ads - many successful lobbying groups push a political message this way. TV is the opiate of the masses: were family-friendly timeslots to be targeted by an awareness campaign with informative, helpful advice on exercising the easy in-built console parental controls, it wouldn't be hard to include a few pointed barbs at how dangerous the current system is for minors purely because of the lack of an adult alternative.

Child's Play is amazing, but having the party invest their cash on these TV spots could prove more widely helpful to the cause of overall children's safety. Just a thought.

samuel

December 14, 2009

01:43 PM

It's about time somebody is trying something different to get those conservatives in charge of game classification to recognise the fact that gamers have grown up. As grown ups we need to have the choice to games for grown ups, not something for kiddies. Those conservatives are denying our rights to choose what we want to play. As a 40 years old gamer I've found this to be like dictatorship (aka Hitler, Hussain, etc).

It's going to be very difficult to convince those conservatives of anything because their mind sets are set in prehistoric times. In fact most conservatives will not change their underwear if not for hygiene issues. This is how backwards they are.

nytrojen

December 15, 2009

12:50 PM

I support you 100%. I've already submitted my view on the discussion paper. Mr Atkinson is no more democratic than a dictator, essentially telling us adults what we should and shouldn't be doing when clearly the rest of the world disagrees with him.

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